Tyra Turns 11

BFFs

Lily's Birthday

While we were at Rob and Ang's house in NC over Labor Day weekend, Lily looked over the cake books Ang has and decided on a castle cake. From there I told her to draw the cover for her invitations, something that could appeal to the boys she would be inviting, also. She drew a princess, knight, dragon and castle. Aunt Angela provided the wording for the inside, and when we passed out a copy to each child at the end of school on Tues, you wouldn't believe the response! They were all so excited, not particularly about being invited to the party itself, but to receive this awesome card! The next morning when we walked into the class many parents stopped us along the way to mention their child was excited about the party and about receiving the invitation. But the best was as I was leaving the classroom a little girl walked in still holding her invitation, and when I gave her mom a questioning look and she said "She wouldn't put it down all night, and she had to hold it all the way to school!"

As I tucked Lily into bed the night before her birthday she informed me that she would not be waking up until breakfast was ready, that she would be sleeping in until then. How could I not bring her breakfast up on a tray, knowing she thinks it must be such a treat, since Mom and Dad get breakfast that way for their special days. And she didn't fail to notice that I let her use my favorite crystal goblet :)


Although many of her friends would be walking home with us for the party within minutes, we still let Lily share little brownies and juice with her classmates while they sang Happy Birthday to her.

The party went as well as can be expected with boys being invited :) One in particular really couldn't keep away from the sandbox, the swingset, and the scooters, especially not to do party crafts and party games. We tried to let them have plenty of "free play" time, but at one point after he'd left in the middle of Prince, Princess, Dragon (Duck, Duck, Goose) and took half the kids with him, Lily came up to me and said "It seems like my friends just wanted to come over for a playdate and not a birthday party." I felt badly for her and told her we'd let them play a few more minutes then I'd be better at enforcing participation. Which worked better, especially when I told Tom how Lil felt. They did all seem to enjoy themselves, including Lily. Lily was a most gracious hostess, and Tyra was a huge help running things, running to fetch things, etc. By 5:30 all the kids were gone and we relaxed for an hour or so before having Lil choose a Chinese Buffet for dinner.

So Lillian Regina Severina Draper is now 6, and able to do new things every day. It was a pleasure to see her with her friends, as they so clearly took to her sweet, obliging ways.

The Powers that Be.......th has

I was teasing Beth about all of her super powers again yesterday.

Beth: I don't have superpowers dad. I only have three powers.
Dad: Really? What are they?
Beth: I have normal powers, beautiful powers and Barbie powers. Right now I am using my beautiful powers and my Barbie powers to make this Barbie beautiful, so please quit teasing me.

Techno Fun

This is an experimental post. I am curious to see how this web app functions. In theory, you click on it and it connects your phone and my phone for a free call. If we aren't here, you get sent to my voicemail, and I can in theory read a transcription of your message online. Please try it out and let us know how it works.

Five Fun-Filled weeks of Family & Friends

week 1: Huntington Beach House with the DraperFam. Running on the beach in the early morning with the man of my dreams. Crowning event: Mike and Teri getting married in San Diego temple, with a beautifully decorated backyard reception in Fountain Valley.


week 2: Stay at Dad & Pam's, then on to Anne & Matt's. Eat full Korean dinner made by Anne. See Jon with Sam and Amanda at Cal Sci. Ctr. Meet Bella and see Micah & Heather's home. Kyla's birthday party, Tom's graduation party at Ron & Annie's, sleep over.


week 3: Drive up to Utah, see Trisha in passing, stay at GrammaLee's for many nights. Go to Jim Packer's funeral in SLC. Dinner with the Lambert's. Attend Mike & Teri's reception in Provo. Draper Family Reunion. Double date with Glen & Chele. Stay at Grandma Linda & Grandpa Tom's. Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House.

week 4: Drive to Mileses. Chat and chat while kids play and play. Tom and Thomas go to Davidson Institute for Talent Development Summit in Reno for weekend.

week 5: Drive to Anne & Matt's. Lisa comes, go to Mollie's San Clemente condo. Tom hikes Mt. Baldy w/ Matt. Bridal shower for Heather. Meeting and holding William Lee for the first--and second-- time. Lily and me to the Napa Rose rehearsal dinner. Everyone at the Wayfarer's Chapel for the wedding and the Trump National Golf Club for the reception, wherein there is much dancing and eating.

Total of 11 transfers, 8 different beds (9 for Tom and Thomas, going to Reno) and it all was so wonderful, we love, love, loved it!

Poetic License

I wish to award my daughter the title of poet. She wrote the following poem while we were driving by the factories of Western Utah in the salt flats. If you want to read more of her poems, visit her blog at tzscience.blogspot.com.

Beautiful Earth
Fact'ries torment the Earth,
While clouding the Sun in the sky.
Burning long-dead animals
For their deathly fuels.
Humans claim to conquer the Earth,
While she tries bravely
To keep from collapsing,
Under the weight of
Human hands.
We rip up the mountains,
The oceans,
Our land, her land, God's land.

Now we are dying, yet still overwhelming
Our poor little Earth.
Trash in air,
Trash in water,
Trash in land, trash on land.
People feel guilty for
Deathly polluting
Our beautiful planet.
The only one with life,
The only one we know of,
Beautiful Earth.
Gasping for clean air,
Beautiful Earth.
Thirsty for clean water,
Beautiful Earth.
Can't find a clean place to sit,
Beautiful Earth.

© 2009 Tyra Draper

Robbed again

I should be blogging about my brother's wedding, and I will, but not now. During the wedding, we have spent the week with my parents, and sibling's families in a beach condo. My brother Rob has always been fond of teasing my wife, from the very beginning. He teases my wife by complimenting her endlessly. "Su, you are the greatest." "Su, you remind me of the babe." "Su, you are as light as a marshmallow and twice as sweet." "Su, you rock." And so on. I call this getting "Robbed". Anyone who knows my wife knows that she doesn't like the spotlight of a compliment, especially if it isn't genuine.

All of this reminded me of a funny time in our first year of marriage. We were visiting my parents for Sunday dinner. Rob and Mikey were going on and on, praising Su's every action. Exasperated, Su finally demanded, "I don't want to hear any more compliments from either of you for the rest of the evening!" Rob stopped and quietly considered the situation for about three seconds. Then turning to me he gleefully stated, "Tommy, you sure do have great taste in women!"

Heart Attack!!!

I am currently remodeling our basement with the help of a friend. One night Susan took of with Lily to a church activity leaving the Tyra, Thomas and Beth home with me while we worked. Beth enjoys playing by herself, and this evening was no exception. T&T were interested in the work going on downstairs, so they were both watching Jerry and me remove debris, build walls, and install new plumbing.

After a while, I asked Thomas to go check on Beth. After a cursory inspection, he said he couldn't find her. I sent Tyra to go look, knowing that Thomas probably only looked in the living room. After about five minutes, Tyra came back down and said that she couldn't find Beth anywhere, but that her bedroom door was locked shut.

That was a little worrisome, so we all stopped what we were doing and went up to look for Beth. I ran up to the bedroom and tried the door: locked. I knocked, "Beth? Are you in there?" Nothing. I knocked louder, "Beth! Please let me know if you are in there." Nothing. I pounded the door with my fist, "BETH! Open the door right now!" Nothing. Nervously, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "BEEEEEEEETHHHHHH!", while I pounded the door.

All sorts of negative thoughts started fillling my head as I spun around and leaped down the stairs. I knew what I needed, my drill and needle nose pliers. In the basement, I grabbed my pliers and drill, unchucking the bit and letting it drop while I ran. I grabbed the Phillip's head bit and chucked it tight as I shot up the second flight of stairs. I was pretty sure it was Phillip's, and every second felt like it counted. I hit the door like a NASCAR pit man. Pop! Pop! I dropped the screws out in rapid succession. I rotated the cover to the side and awkwardly pinched at the unlocking mechanism with my pliers. I slipped. I tried again. I slipped. I tried again. My hands were shaking and my whole body was surging with adrenalin. I would have been easier to lift half a car than to manipulate this locking mechanism. It turned.

I burst through the door and scanned the room, screaming "BETH!" She was nowhere to be found. I looked again at her bed. There was Beth. My hand shot down to her neck. Pulse. Warmth. Breathing. "Beth!", I exhaled, "Didn't you hear me?" She responded with a slight snore. I sighed, "Why did you lock the door?" Her angelic face continued to disarm me.

I went back over to the door and started to screw the hardware back in. Thomas came up behind me babbling some song. Without thinking, I scolded, "Quiet! You are going to wake up Beth."

Preschool graduation 1 of 2

The girls did the HS preschool program (loosely) this last year. Joyschool was the main preschool, but I can't post the pictures of joyschool with the other kids, so these are all I'll post (though they loved Joyschool!)

Hugs and Kisses

Beth made up an interpretive dance to XOXOXOXO.

Lily and the Ball

My wife and daughter had an interesting conversation before we went to the Armed Forces Gala this evening.

Lily: Are you and dad going on a date?
Susan: Yes. We are going to a ball.
Lily: What!?! You're going to a ball! I want to go to a ball!
Susan: You can't. Balls are for adults.
Lily: That's not true. Balls are for children!
Susan: No. Balls are for adults.
Lily: What about Cinderella? She was a kid.
Susan: No she wasn't. Remember, she got married at the end.
Lily: [Impatiently] Mom! It's a fairy tale. Remember?

More Bethisms

Scene 1
Me: Bethy, you are so sweet. Are you made out of sugar?
Beth: No.
Me: Are you made out of gold?
Beth: No.
Me: Well what are you made out of then?
Beth: [Seriously] Hinges!
(See Primary Song Book, p. 277 for clarification)

Scene 2
The three older kids have recently taken an interest in set. Beth wanted in on the action, but was having a little trouble.
Beth: Is this a set dad?
Me: No. Two of them are hollow and one isn't.
[ Beth continues to stare at the cards for a minute, and then proudly declares ]
Beth: I think hollow means empty!
Me: [Laughing] You are right. I need to do a better job of explaining!

Retro Boy

For a second, I thought I was back in the 80s. Familiar beeping and blooping. It wasn't my old arcade or Nintendo. It was my boy.




If that got you in the mood play now!!!

The world through the eyes of Beth

Now that I finally finished my dissertation, the world I have denied is coming back. One of my first goals was to restart the Parent/Child dating night, where Su or I take one of the children out do to what they are interested in. I sat down with each child to discuss what their goals and interests were starting with the oldest. I almost decided to skip Beth since I wasn't so sure that she would have any opinion. Boy was I wrong.

Dad: So Beth, what is something you really want to do?
Beth: I want to throw meat to a lion.
Dad: Did you say "throw meat to a lion"?
Beth: Yes. I want to throw meat to a lion.
Dad: Hmmm. Maybe we can arrange .... that. Anything else?
Beth: I want Jesus to help me to go to sleep.
Dad: In person?
Beth: Yes.
Dad: Well, we talk to him in our prayers and I know he is watching over you while you sleep.
Beth: Yeah.
Dad: These are both quite difficult, but we will see what we can do. Any other ideas?
Beth: Ummm. I want to be healthy, do ballet, do hair ties and build a house out of bricks.
Dad: A real house?
Beth: Yeah.
Dad: Okay. This is good. We should all work on being healthy and we can definitely look into ballet. I'm not sure what doing hair ties is, but I know mom or Angela would love to do that with you. I'll look into the brick thing.
Beth: I love you dad.
Dad: I love you Beth.

Yes, the DOCTOR is in!

Easter Weekend at Rob and Ang's in NC

Built Like an Amazon

That is, I wish I were. I've always gathered from general reading that the Amazons were big tough women warriors from the Amazon region (Brazil), real or fictionalized I didn't know. A quick wikipedia search shows I was only partly right, as they were not really from Brazil in any of the references. But today I would've been happy to be built like an Amazon (warrior) or a woman from the mouth of the Amazon River: namely my first companion and trainer, the mighty Sister Cavalcante. She was about 4'10" maybe. Sweet dimpled cheeks, never-ending patience, and podorosa (powerful) in 2 important ways 1) she could invite the spirit and invite an investigator to be baptized most powerfully and 2) she could make short work of the heavy, awkward towels, bedding, and clothing that we washed by hand each p-day. Every time I find myself ringing out a completely soaked full-sized towel I think of my mission. Today that means I was thinking about my mission a lot.

I went downstairs to start the laundry from our Easter visit to Rob and Ang's house. I was shocked and disappointed to see that the floor was covered in a thin layer of water, eerily similar to the way it would be after spring rains of years past. But last summer we'd had a sump pump installed, at no small cost/inconvenience. So I was upset to see it hadn't worked. Or hadn't it? I could hear a dripping, and following the sound I found that our furnace was leaking water in a steady stream. Finally all is under control, it has been fixed, and all but the carpet is dried.

Now to make chicken noodle soup for my sick man. Laundry will have to wait until later. But hurrah! I told Ang I'd blog first, and I have! Maybe not about Easter yet, but I don't remember saying that specifically...

Pay It Forward!

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You will have no clue what it’s going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven’t even invented yet (but Heaven knows it will most likely be totally fabulous and creative… . I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.